In recent years, in plant, factories, or the like, wireless communication systems have been implemented in which measuring instruments, actuators, which are capable of wireless communication and known as wireless field devices, are installed on-site, and control signals for controlling the wireless field devices and measurement signals obtained by the wireless field devices are communicated via a wireless communication network. An example of a communication standard used in such wireless communication systems is the ISA 100.11a, which is an industrial automation wireless communication standard established by the ISA (International Society of Automation).
In this case, in order to enable a wireless device such as the above-noted wireless field device to join a wireless communication network, it is necessary to perform a task known as provisioning, which sets device information with respect to the wireless device. Device information includes such things as network parameters and security parameters. Methods of provisioning can be generally divided into over-the-air (OTA) provisioning, in which wireless communication conforming to the above-noted ISA 100.11a wireless communication standard is done to set device information, and out-of-band (OOB) provisioning, in which communication by a communication means other than this wireless communication (for example, infrared communication) is done to set device information.
Non-Patent Document 1 noted below sets forth a number of methods of performing the above-noted OTA provisioning. An example is the setting forth of a method in which a wireless communication network managed by a wireless communication system is divided into a number of wireless subnetworks, with a provisioning network, which is a wireless subnetwork dedicated for use in provisioning being logically separated on a target network that is a wireless subnetwork for operation, whereby device information is set into field devices from the target network via a provisioning network.